First look at the new C-Class production line at Alabama's Mercedes-Benz plant (photos)

VANCE, Alabama -- Mercedes-Benz has raised the curtain on its
new C-Class production line in Tuscaloosa County, giving a peek inside
the facilities that will birth the first car for the German automaker's Alabama
operations.

Today, the company hosted members of the German media and gave them and others a tour of the area where the new sedan will be built.

Among the highlights were an assembly shop that will have some 151 processes on the line, as well as a look at various C-Class models made last month during engineering trials at the plant.

Production trials start this week,
and the production launch will happen later this year.

The C-Class, Mercedes' best-selling model series, has been redesigned for 2015, and the updated sedan made its world debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this week.

At the Tuscaloosa County plant, the company is wrapping up renovations on the assembly shop where the car will be built. It used to house assembly operations for luxury SUVs, but that work has been moved to the plant's other assembly shop.

Mercedes is adding 1,000 jobs tied to the C-Class, and it is spending an additional $2 billion on its Alabama operations for the sedan and other new models.

Employees have spent time training in Germany, as well as collaborating with their colleagues at plants in Germany, South Africa and China, where the new C-Class also will be built.

Some said they feel a responsibility to prove themselves, which could lead to additional models for the Alabama plant.

"I am so proud to have this car here. I feel like it's our duty to do
well, so maybe we can get something else," said David Hunter, an 11-year employee from Northport who is a group leader for Trim 2 in the assembly shop.

The plant currently produces the M-Class, GL-Class and R-Class, and it will add a fifth model, expected to be an SUV, next year.

The new C-Class has more technology than other models built at the plant, so that's one of the challenges associated with taking on the car.

Employees are learning processes and testing procedures associated with an entirely new vehicle, from the molding of a lighter body to the installation of touchpad technology on the car's interior.

There's also the issue of size. Alabama workers are accustomed to building SUVs that are easy to step in and out of for various processes. But the C-Class is smaller, and they can't be hunched over all the time.

To address this, a special ergo chair is being made that will allow workers to glide in and out of each car so they can do the interior work more easily, said Tanya Cabiness, a Tuscaloosa resident, 17-year employee and production manager for the C-Class.

Cabiness said she and her co-workers watched the C-Class' official debut in Detroit this week, even though they have had a behind-the-scenes perspective of the new vehicle for years.

"We've had a lot of new vehicle launches over the past few years," she said. "But each time, it's exciting."